Jumbled Letters
by Insecurties Make Me Who I Am
Summary: What if there was a reason Zack always had bad grades? What if, in his mind, all he could see as he stared down at the pages were just a bunch of jumbled letters? Read on to find out the reason behind all of his "failure"! A bit featuring Alex Russo from Wizards of Waverly Place. I do not own the Suite Life series or Wizards of Waverly Place. All rights go to Disney Channel.
1. Chapter 1

*Zack's POV*

I stare hard at the letters written on the board, trying to make out what Miss Tutweiler wrote for today's lesson. I came in before anyone, even Miss Tutweiler so I could know what we were doing today. As hard as I focused, I just could not read what was on the board. The bell ran and I looked towards the door only to see my twin brother looking at me weirdly.

"Zack? What are you doing here?" He asked. Should I tell him? Would he make fun of me for not being able to read a simple sentence? I decided not to tell him.

"Just figuring out how to prank Miss Tutweiler today." I lie and laugh. Cody puts an arm on his hip and stares at me.

"Zack, you don't need to get in anymore trouble." He says. I decide to play along.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. I won't prank her. Today." I say and give him a charming smile. We take our seats just as everyone and Miss Tutweiler comes in. She looks at me curiously and then says,

"Zack, disable whatever prank you have done."

"But I didn't prank you today, Miss Tutweiler." I tell her.

"Don't lie, Zachary Martin." she says.

"But I didn't, I swear to you." I say.

"He's telling the truth, he didn't set up any pranks today. I forced him to come early with me." Cody says. I sigh and look over at him. He's looking at me and I mouth the words, 'Thank You' in to which he responds with a nod.

"Very well. Zack, read today's lesson." Miss Tutweiler says, I groan and concentrate on the board.

"Today, we will be in the since bal to disverco-" I stopped once I realize everyone except Miss Tutweiler, Bailey, Woody, Cody, Maya and Marcus were all laughing at me. I looked around the room, feeling tears well up in my eyes. I stood up and ran out of the classroom and down the hall and into my cabin. The tears falling down as I ran. I slammed the door shut and changed. I then proceeded to drop on my bed.

'Why can't I do anything right?' I asked myself. Soon, I heard a knock at my door. I wiped my eyes and cleared my throat.

"Who is it?" I asked.

"It's Cody, can I come in?" he asked. 'Well, he would have found out sooner or later. Better be sooner.'

"Sure, door's unlocked." I said, knowing he only knocked so he could be polite. The door creaked opened and the edge of my bed dipped at the end.

"Look at me, Zack." He says. I turn over and I see his face soften.

"What do you want? To make fun of me because I couldn't read a simple sentence?" I ask. He shakes his head.

"Of course not, I just wanted to make sure you were okay." Cody said. I shake my head.

"No, I'm not okay. Do you have any idea what it's like to be laughed at when you are struggling?" I asked him, tears starting to stream down my face. He nods a little.

"I do but I don't think it was ever this bad." He says wiping my cheek.

"Marcus, Woody, Bailey and Maya are standing outside of the door, aren't they?" I say, smiling a small smile. Cody nods.

"Do you want them to leave? Because you can be alone if you want." He says. I shake my head.

"Let them in." I say. He nods and stands up to open the door. They all walk in and look at me with tear stains on my cheeks and laying in bed in my pajamas.

"Are you alright?" They asked simultaneously. I shake my head again.

"No, but I will be." I said, smiling weakly.

"So, what exactly did happen back there?" Maya asked me gently, sitting on the other side of me.

"I, I don't know. The words and letters were just all jumbled up and I couldn't read them." I said.

"Let's get you checked over by a doctor or at least a certified medical person. It sounds like you might be dyslexic, Zack." Cody says.

"Dyslexic?" The foreign word seemed to slip out of my mouth so easily.

"Yes, it's basically a reading disability that occurs when the brain does not properly recognize and process certain symbols." Maya tells me. I nod and get up.

"Let's go." I say.

"Don't you want to change first?" Marcus asks. I shake my head.

"Nah, these are comfy." I say and slip on some shoes. They all shrug and we walk to the sky deck where Mr. Moesby is at, working the smoothie bar and towel place. He looks over when he sees the six of us. He walks over towards us.

"Why aren't you all in class? And why are you wearing pajamas?" he asks.

"We were just wondering if the infirmary or any place on this boat does a dyslexia evaluation." Cody says.

"Why?" Mr. Moesby asks.

"Because he thinks I may be dyslexic because of what happened in class today." I tell him not wanting anyone else to tell him.

"What happened in class?" he asks. I look at Cody because I don't want to relive it.

"Miss Tutweiler asked Zack to read the lesson on the board and he couldn't, mixing up some letters and everyone except us and Miss Tutweiler laughed at him and he ran back to his cabin." He explained. Mr. Moesby 'hummed in thought.

"Well, I suppose the nurse could look closely and I will excuse all six of you from class today. Follow me." He said. We followed him into the infirmary and stood there while Mr. Moesby talked with the nurse.

"Six? What's wrong with them?" Nurse Ray asked.

"Nothing. Well, Zack needs to be tested for dyslexia and I need you to do that. The other five are just here for support." Mr. Moesby told her.

"Oh, of course. Just sit right up here and I'll get started right away." she told me. I nodded and sat up on the bed thing.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to be going now." Mr. Moesby said.

"Where are you going?" Bailey asked.

"To give those rotten kids a lecture." He said and walked away.

Hey Guys, so I'm new to fan . Well, sort of, I've had an account forever and now this is my first fanfic on this site and of Zack & Cody so I hope you enjoyed it. And I'll update soon.

Please Review, it would make me so happy!

~IMMWIA


	2. Chapter 2

*Miss Tutweiler's POV*

"Today, we will be in the siecnce bal to disverco-" Zack stopped once he realized everyone except Bailey, Woody, Cody, Maya, Marcus and I, were all laughing at him. He looked around the room and then looked to the front of the room, I could see his eyes get watery. He stood up and ran out of the classroom.

"Cody, would you like to go talk to him?" I asked. He nodded. Bailey, Marcus, Woody and Maya looked at me.

"You four can go too. Make sure he's alright!" I called after them as they rushed from the room. I turned towards my students who were still laughing. I cleared my throat loudly and they all stopped laughing and turned towards me.

"What do you all have to say for yourselves?" I ask them. John raises his hand.

"Yes, John?" I call on him.

"Zack needs to go back to kindergarten, Miss Tutweiler. I mean, come on. He's in high school and can't even read." He says. The class starts laughing again.

"Hey! Be quiet!" I shout.

"Now, that is no way to treat a fellow cla-" Before I could finish my sentence, Mr. Moesby barges in with a stern look on his face. He walks up to me.

"May I take over for a while, Emma?" He asks.

"What for?" I ask.

"The incident that happened here a moment ago with Zack, I'm going to be giving these hooligans a lecture about treating fellow classmates with respect." He says. I nod.

"Go ahead. Class, this is Mr. Moesby as you all may know. He is here to give you all a lecture about respect." I say and everyone groans.

"Now, I see that this class is missing six people, am I correct?" He asks them. They all nod.

"Well, why is that? I'll pick you." he says, pointing to a girl in the front row.

"Zack was trying to read the board and he couldn't so we started laughing a-" she started.

"And he ran out with Cody, Bailey, Maya, Marcus and Woody following him, correct?" He said.

*Moesby's POV*

"And he ran out with Cody, Bailey, Maya, Marcus and Woody following him, correct?" I asked. She nodded.

"Yes, how did you know?" she asked him.

"Because he ran into me a few minutes ago in the hall and he told me what happened and then the other five came running out. Would anyone like to explain why you laughed at him for struggling?" I asked the class.

"Well, he couldn't read the board. All it says is, 'Today, we will be in the science lab to discover different frog specimen.' What's so hard about that to read?" asked a boy who sat in the back.

"Nothing. It's just that other people's brains process simple things differently. Sometimes they see the words jumbled up or words that aren't even there. It's difficult for those people to do simple things you all can do. The next time you see Zack, I want you to apologize but not because I told you to. But because you want to and you realized what you did was wrong. Once you realize that, I want you to give him a sincere apology that came right from the heart. You all may not know this, but I have known Zack and Cody since they were about five years old and it takes alot to upset either of them but mostly Zack.

When I saw him, he seemed pretty upset so it must have hurt him real bad. They had a tough time growing up. You should always treat someone with respect whether you like them or not because you never know what could be going on inside of them. You make a wrong move and they could be pushed off of the edge. No matter what, always treat someone with respect unless they give you a reason not to. And yes I know he's pulled pranks on you many of times but that's just how he copes with things. Don't ask me why, I just know he copes with pranks. I will be leaving now and I hope what I have said has been burned somewhere in your heart. Goodbye." I said and started to walk out of the room but a hand pulled me back.

"Why didn't you just tell them that you think he may have dyslexia?" Emma whispered quietly.

"Because I know Zack and he's already embarrassed enough as it is, no need for him to be embarrassed more, now is there?" I said. She shook her head and let me on my way.

*Zack's POV*

After Moesby left, the nurse started to dig into different drawers.

"Now, I don't want to pressure you, so if you can't read a word just stop and say 'I can't', okay?" Nurse Ray said. I nodded and she showed me a card with a sentence on it. I squinted my eyes and tried to focus to read the sentence.

"The woc ujmped vero-" I sighed and said, "I can't." She nodded and put another card in front of me. I did the same for the other three. I felt four hands on my knees, back and arm. I then felt two arms wrap around my stomach. I looked around and smiled.

Cody's hand was on my right knee, Woody's on me left knee, Bailey's was on my arm, Marcus' on my back and Maya's arms were wrapped around my stomach. Right at that moment I knew that I had the three best friends, brother and girlfriend in the world.  
The nurse sighed and told me,

"I'm sorry Zack but I believe you have dyslexia but there are tutors that can help you improve." I shook my head with a smile.

"Nah, I'm perfectly fine with this. And I can just have one of these guys help me if needed. Am I done here? We need to see what we missed in class today." I told her, shocking my friends. She nodded.

"Yes, you are free to go and I don't think class is over yet. I'll give you all a pass just in case." she told us. We all nodded and I stood up. She gave us our yellow passes and we headed out.

"Zack!" The nurse called out. I turned around.

"Yes?" I asked. She handed me a red piece of paper.

"Give this to your teacher." she said and shooed me on my way. I smiled and walked with my friends back to my cabin so I could change.

"What is it?" Cody asked. I looked at the note and tried to read the first three letters before giving up and handing it to him.

"It's just telling Miss Tutweiler that he's dyslexic and to help him if he has any problems or to just let another classmate help him." He told them and I. They nodded. Just as we reached my cabin, Mr. Moesby came walking up to us.

"So? What's the results?" he asked.

"I'm dys- I am dys- What's the word?." I sighed and asked.

"Dyslexic" Bailey confirmed for me. He nodded and looked at the red paper.

"Just a note to let Miss Tutweiler let a classmate help him or her." Marcus explained.

"Ah, well good luck and I shall be on my way." he said and walked away. We walked into my cabin and I picked up my clothes from earlier and walked into the bathroom. I changed and we walked towards the classroom. Cody knocked on the door and Miss Tutweiler opened it up. She smiled as she looked at me and I gave her the red and yellow passes. She read the red one and nodded. We walked in and took our seats.

"Okay, who would like to read this sentence about the war of 1812?" Miss Tutweiler asked. I concentrated on the board. I could make out the first and last letter of each word. I raised my hand. Miss Tutweiler looked at me.

"Are you sure?" she asked. I nodded.

"Well, go your time though." she told me. I took a deep breath and concentrated more on the sentence.

"The War of 1812 was a 32-month miitlary coflintc bweteen the United States of America and the United Kindgom of Great Btirain an-" I stopped again as I realized everyone who laughed before was laughing again. I stood up and walked up to the front of the classroom.

"Please stop laughing!" I almost yelled. They all stopped and started at me. I looked to Cody, silently asking if he could come up here to support me. He nodded and walked up and stood beside me.

"I may not be able to read one simple sentence correctly but I am not so shallow as to where I would laugh at someone else's struggle. There is a perfectly reasonable explaination as to why I can't read the board correctly. That reason is because I am dys- I am dysl-" I sighed and looked to Cody. He leaned towards me and whispered,

"Are you sure you want to tell them?" I nodded. He shrugged and turned to our classmates.

"The reason that Zack cannot read the board correctly because he is dyslexic." Cody told them for me. A kid in the back raised his hand.

"What's dyslexic?" he asked.

"DyslexiA is a reading disability that occurs when the brain doesn't properly recognize and process certain symbols." Marcus stands up and says. I smile at him softly.

"So, you're disabled? Haha" the kid says, starting to laugh. Bailey stands up.

"He's not disabled, he just can't process certain words properly." she says walking over to stand by me. Maya, Woody and Marcus all stand up and do the same.

"Yea, just because someone is different doesn't mean they don't have feelings and won't care what you do or say about them." Maya says, taking a hold of my hand.

"I mean my cousin has a stutter but I don't make fun of him for it because he can't help for being who he is." Woody speaks up.

"Exactly, thank you guys for standing up for me. Anyway, just because I am different and may need different help than you all doesn't make me any different from what I was yesterday. If you don't like it, then who cares, your opinion. I will always stay how I am." I told them and we all walked back to our seats. I looked around at my five best friends and smiled, knowing that I would get through dyslexia with their help.

Hey, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and will continue on reading! I'm hoping this will be a ten chapter fic but it may just be above five and below ten but I don't know yet. I got the sentence about War of 1812 from this website, very first sentence.- wiki/War_of_1812

Also, I just want to tell you that I don't know anything about dyslexia, I am not dyslexic and the only reason I know of it is because my friend is and she told me what it was like in her mind. And the sentence that Maya and Marcus explain is from this website here. . .gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002379/

Again, Hope you enjoyed this chapter and continue reading!


	3. Chapter 3

*Zack's POV*

I was sitting in Marcus and I's cabin trying to read a sentence that Cody wrote for me because he has the neatest handwriting out of all six of us. I focused on the letters and tried reading it out loud.

"If you eat craorts, they will hpel your vsiion. Really, Cody?" I asked after trying to read the sentence.

"What? You asked me to write a simple sentence for you, so I did." He defended himself.

"You did well though, you only had trouble on three words." Maya congratulated me. I smiled.

"Awesome. Cody, write another simple sentence please?" I asked him. He nodded and started writing on an index card. After a few seconds, he handed me the card and I concentrated on the letters once again.

"It's okay if you cna't raed preporly." I read and looked to Cody, smiling.

"Thanks, bro."I said.

"No problem." He replied. A knock came through my door.

"Come in!" I called. Bailey and Woody came in.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Marcus asked.

"Nothing, we just heard that Zack was getting help and we just wanted to come and support him." Bailey said.

"Oh, well, thanks. Cody, write another, please?" I asked again. He nodded and wrote another one. He handed to me and I read it with just a few mistakes. It went like this for the next four hours before another knock came through the door.

"Who is it?" I asked.

"Mr. Moesby." came the answer.

"Come in!" Marcus called. Mr. Moesby came walking in, holding a vile with blue dye in it.

"Zack, what is this?" he asked. I looked at it confused.

"A vile with blue dye in it?" I asked.

"Exactly and it was outside of your cabin." he said.

"And?"

"And, a passenger just came to talk to me and they were BLUE!" he yelled. I flinched a little.

"I didn't do that, I promise" I tried to defend myself.

"Oh, please, don't lie to me." he snarled.

"He isn't lying, Moesby, he was in here with us all morning and day." Cody told him.

"And how do I know that?" Moesby asked.

"Cody's helping him with his dyslexia and we're here to support him. Plus I live here." Marcus said.

"Prove it." he demanded. I shrugged and handed him the pile of index cards that were sitting on my desk. He flipped through them and handed me one. I looked at it and tried to read what was on it.

"No, don't read it, look at the corner. It's smudged with what?" Moesby asked. Woody and Marcus leaned over my shoulder to examine it.

"Nothing. There's nothing on any of the corners." Marcus said and Woody and I confirmed his answer by nodding.

"Well, if you didn't then who did?" Maya asked. I shrugged.

"I don't know. But if you'll excuse us, I need to continue studying." I told Moesby, standing up and gently shoving him out of our room. I shut the door and sat back at my desk and I continued reading off of cards that Cody wrote sentences on. When we finished, we just sat around the room, wondering what we could do.

"What do we do now?" I asked. Everyone shrugged.

"We can go to the Sky Deck and just chill there, I guess?" Marcus suggested. We all agreed and walked up to the Sky Deck. I saw a familiar black haired girl.

"Alex!" I called. She looked up at me and came over.

"Zack! What are you doing here?" she asked, giving me a hug.

"Um, I go to school here, what are you doing back here?" I asked her, hugging back. We pulled away.

"Oh, um we are here to enroll to the school here. Surprise!" she said.

"Wow that's great! Guys, this is Alex, Alex this is, Bailey, Marcus, Maya, Woody and my twin brother Cody." I said, pointing to everyone as I said their names.

"Nice to meet you, Alex." Cody said, sticking out his hand. Alex looked at it and then smacked it away and gave him a hug. She then proceeded to give everyone else a hug.

"Hey, did you dye the hot tub blue again?" I asked her.

"What? No, I never do the same pranks again and never in the same spot. Why?" she asked.

"Well, Mr. Moesby came in my room and blamed me again for it." I told her. She furrowed her eyebrows and thought.

"Oh, MAX!" She yelled. A boy with brown hair came over.

"Yea, Alex?" he asked.

"Did you put blue dye in the hot tub?" she asked him.

"What?" He said in a high pitched voice. Alex groaned.

"Why? You nearly got Zack into trouble!" she told him.

"Oh, sorry, man. I didn't mean to." he said looking at me. He then looked at Cody and back at me.

"Cool, you have a twin!" he exclaimed and ran off. I pointed after him.

"Is he always like that?" Maya asks, stealing the words right out of my mouth.

"Yes, sadly, he is." she said.

"Well, you wanna bust your brother?" I asked. She smirked.

"Duh! Let's go!" she said and we ran off to find Moesby.

"Mr. Moesby, Mr. Moesby!" I called after spotting him. He turned around.

"Yes, Zack?" he asked.

"I know who dyed the hot tub blue." I said. He took a look at Alex.

"No, not me. My brother, Max." she told him, rolling her eyes. He nodded.

"Okay, Zack, I'm sorry for accusing you. Again." He said and was on his way.

"Thank you, Alex. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to my friends and brother." I told her. "But you're welcome to join if you want." I added.

"Nah, I need to get back to my parents. I'll see you around another time. Bye." she said and walked away.

"Bye." I started walking back to where my friends were. They were all in the hot tub. I widened my eyes.

"Guys! Really?" I said.

"What?" Bailey asked simply.

"Now, all of you are gonna be blue!" I told them. Their eyes widened and they jumped up, looking all over there bodies. I started laughing.

"Zack! We're not blue!" Cody yelled.

"Yea but made ya look. Yikes!" I yelped when they all started chasing me and started to run. This will be the best year of my life.

* * *

Hey so, Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you all had a great day and for the holiday, I figured I would give you 2 chapters today, so here's this one and the other one will be coming right up!

Please Review! It means the world to me.


	4. Chapter 4

*Cody's POV*

After we stopped chasing Zack and ended back in his cabin, I began to feel a light dull pain in my head and stomach. That's weird, I thought, maybe I'm not feeling it.

"Zack? Can I talk to you in the hall? Alone, please?" I asked him. He looked up from where he was sitting.

"Can't we just stay in here?" He asked. I sighed and the pain in my head began to get worse. I nodded.

"Guys? Can you give us a moment?" I asked them. They nodded and left the room.

"What'd you wanna talk about?" Zack asked me.

"Are you feeling alright?" I asked. He was about to answer when I interrupted.

"And don't deny it, I can feel your pain." I told him. He sighed and then shook his head.

"Alright, I don't feel alright. My head and stomach hurt and my throat's a bit sore." he told me.

"Do you want me to send everyone back to their cabins then so you can get some rest?" I asked him. He shook his head.

"Nah, I'll just lay here and we can just talk. Before you let them in, tell them I'm not feeling well and to not disturb me much, please?" He pleaded. I nodded and walked into the hall, shutting the door behind me.

"What did you ask him?" Woody asked. I looked at him.

"Well, I began to feel a light, dull pain in my head and stomach but I knew it wasn't my own pain and it turns out Zack isn't feeling well but he didn't want you guys to go back to your cabins so he says to just not disturb him much. You can talk to him and around him just not loudly or alot." I told them all. They nodded and we entered the room.

"Hey, Zack." Maya said softly, sitting at the edge of his bed and rubbing his knee that was covered with his comforter.

"Hey" he replied with a light raspy voice.

"How're you feeling, buddy?" Marcus asked, sitting on his own bed.

"Been better." he told them, his eyes starting to droop.

"Well, we just wanted to make sure you were okay and then leave you be. Hope you feel better Zack and we will see you in the morning." Bailey said and they all walked out aside from Marcus.

"See ya." He mumbled sleepily and snuggled deeper into his covers. I sighed and walked over to him, putting the back of my hand to his forehead. I sighed as I felt the heat radiating off of it.

"Do you have a thermometer or do I have to go to the infirmary to get one?" I asked Marcus.

"I don't have one. Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on him while you are gone." He reassured me. I nodded and walked out of the room, heading towards the infirmary. On my way, I passed Miss Tutweiler.

"Hey, what are you doing out here? It's almost curfew." she said, glancing at her watch.

"Zack's sick and Marcus doesn't have a thermometer so I'm going to the infirmary to get one." I told her. Her face softened a bit at the mention of Zack.

"Well, I hope he feels better soon and I better not see him in class tomorrow." she told me.

"Oh that won't be a problem. He doesn't like school and this is a great opportunity for him not to go." I assured her. She nodded and walked away and I continued my journey to the infirmary. Once I got there, I knocked on the closed door, hoping Nurse Ray would still be here. The door opened.

"Hi, Cody. What are you doing here? Curfew's about to start." she said.

"Well, Zack's sick and I was just coming here for a thermometer. May I borrow one for a couple of days, at the most?" I asked her.

"Of course, and tell him I hope he feels well soon enough." she told me and handed me an oral thermometer.

"I will and thank you." I called out to her as I started heading back to Zack's cabin.

*Zack's POV*

I groaned as I woke up again. I looked around the room to see Marcus leaning against his headboard and reading a magazine. He looked over at me.

"You're awake. Cody should be here any minute with a thermometer." He told me. I just nodded and burrowed deeper into my bed, trying to cover more of myself with the duvet. Just then the door opened and Cody appeared and looked over at me.

"Hey, you're awake." he said, sitting on the edge of my bed.

"So, I see." I mumbled through the pounding of my head.

"Okay, well open up. I need to take your temperature." Cody said, wiping off the end and sticking it under my tongue after I opened my mouth and lifted my tongue up. I closed my mouth and waited for it to beep. After it beeped, Cody took it out of my mouth and looked at the reading.

"102.2. High but not high enough to be worried about. I just need you to take these pills and I'll leave you to rest. Oh and you're not going to class tomorrow." he told me. I mentally screamed.

"But, I have to hear what she says orally otherwise I won't understand properly." I told him, coughing into my elbow a bit as talking irritated my throat.

"I'll ask if I can tape it for you so you can hear it orally when you are feeling better, okay?" he said. I nodded, agreeing to his plan. He handed me two pills and a cup of water. He helped me lean against my headboard and I put the pills in my mouth and washed them down with the water. I handed the glass back to him and layed back down, covering most of myself with all the covers on my bed. I let out a shiver and coughed a bit more.

As I drifted into dreamland, I heard Cody and Marcus talking.

"If necessary, could you stay with him if he won't cooperate tomorrow?" I heard Cody ask. I didn't hear anything so I assumed he nodded or shook his head.

"Great, well I'll be heading off. Make sure he stays in bed and wake him up every three hours to have him take one of these pills. In the morning make sure he has something in his stomach like dry toast or soup or some crackers. I'll be back in the morning to check up on him. Night, Marcus. Night, Zack." Cody said and I heard some shuffling and then the door squeak open.

"Night, Cody." I said through the thick comforter and finally fell into a deep sleep, hoping that tomorrow, I will be feeling better than I was right now.

* * *

Hey, I'm back! Bet you missed me in the few seconds that it takes to go to next chapter and then however long it takes you to read a chapter, right? Anyway, again Happy Thanksgiving and I hope you enjoyed these 2 chapters and I will see you next chapter. Goodnight everyone.

Please Review, again! Thank you guys so much!


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